Roller center-bearing for cars.



J. G. BARBER. ROLLER CENTER BEARING FOR CARS. APPLICATION rumNOV.1,1912.

1,090,265. Patented Mar. 17, 1914.

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1,090,265. Patented Mar. 17, 1914.

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STATES PATENT JOHN C. BARBER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO STANDARDCAR TRUCK COM- PANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

ROLLER CENTER-BEARING FOR CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 1, 1912.

Patentt'ed Mar. 1'7, 1914.

Serial No. 729.036.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1. Joint C. Banana, acitizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois. have invented certain new and useful improvementsin. teller Center-Beau ings for Cars; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

lily present invention has for its object to improve the construction ofroller center bearii'igs. such as used in railway car construction witha view of obtaining a minimum of friction as incident to the rotary andtraveling movements of the bearing rollers, and, to such ends, generallystated, the invention consists of the novel devices and combinations ofdevices, hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

Particularly this invention relates to roller center bearings of thetype wherein radially disposed. conical rollers are interposed betweenconical bearing surfaces of cooperating bearing plates. and whereinoutward movements of the rollers are resist ed by a sin-rounding thrustflange or member. and wherein also the rollers, while free for rotaryand, traveling movements, are interlocked to one of the bearing members.as, for instance. my prior Patent 885.133 of date April 21st. 1908. Inthe said prioigpatent, the thrust flange against which the outer ends ofthe rollers press radially outward. was cast as a part of, or otherwiserigidly secured in respect to one of the bearing plates or members. Inpractice, it has been found that there is a slight shifting movement ofthe bearing plates in respect to each other, to and from positions inwhich their axes are coincident, and that this shifting movement willproduce an ex cessive friction on the outer ends of the rollers. becausethe said thrust flange positively confines the rollers for travelingmovements always concentric to the axis of the one bearing plate. Ifurther found that this friction. due to the engagement of the outerends of the rollers with the surrounding thrust flange or ring, can bereduced to a minimum by the use of a loose or so-called floating thrustring which is interlocked to one of the bearing plates in such a mannerthat it can shift its position or gyrate slightly in respect to bothbearing plates, in a plane at a right angle to the axis of the bearing.This feature I believe to be broadly new and desire to claim samebroadly.

In the aecompmlying drawings, which show the preferred embodiment of myinvention. in a center bearing of the tvpe adapted for use in connectionwith cars. like characters indicate like parts throughout the severalviews.

Referring to the drawings. Figure 1 is a vertical section. taken throughthe improved center bearing, on the line a1 {171 on Fig. 4, some partsbeing broken away; Fig. 2 is a vertical sect-ion taken centrally throughthe floating thrust ring; Fig. 3 is a detail in plan showing one of theretaining clips for connecting the thrust ring to one of the bearingplates; Fig. 41: is a bottom plan view of the upper bearing plate: andFig. 5 is a side elevation of the same. i

The numeral 1 in dica tes the lower, and the numeral 2 the upper bearingplate. which bearing plates have telescoping hubs and cooperatingconical roller bearing surfaces, between which latter the conicalrollers 3 are. interposed. The hub of the upper plate 9 is provided witha roller retaining flange 4 that underlies the small inner ends of therollers.

The numeral 5 indicates the loose socalled floating thrust ring. againstwhich the large outer ends of the rollers 3 enga and by which the saidrollers are prevented from moving radially outward. This thrust ring 5has an inwardly extended and inner retaining dance 6 at its lower edgewhich underlaps the large outer ends of the rollers 3 and cooperateswith the hub flange t to interlock the said rollers to the upper bearingplate with freedom for rotary movements. and for traveling movements.The ring 5 with its flange therefor affords a combined thrust ring andretainingnring. Of course. the horizontal shifting movements of the ring5 will not be sufficient to permit the disengagement of the small. innerends of the rollers from the said hub flange 4:.

The ring 1") is interlocked to one of the bearing plates. to-wit. asshown. to the upper bearing plate 2. by devices which permit thehorizontal shifting or gyral niovcments of the said ring. above stated.The devices for accomplishing this connection between the said ring andupper bearing plate may take many forms, but preferably, I employ aplurality of retaining clips 7, rigidly but detachably secured by shortnutequipped bolts 8, to recessed lugs 9 cast on the plate 2 and havingopen or slotted bolt seats 10 and bolt retaining flanges 11. hen thenuts on the bolts 8 are loosened, sufficiently to permit the bolt headsto clear the retaining flanges 11, the said bolts with the clips 7 maybe moved radially outward from working positions and, of course, may beapplied by reversing the operation. With this arrangement, broadlyoutlined above and specifically described in connection wit-h thedrawings, the rollers are held for traveling movements on the line of acircle that is always concentric to the axis of the thrust ring, but notnecessarily truly or exactly concentric to the axis of either bearingplate; and, from this arrangement, it follows that the rollers cantravel on a line of least resistance, which has the obvious effect ofreducing the friction to a minimum. At the same time, the said rollersare interlocked to one of the bearing plates so that they will not fallfrom position in respect to the said bearing plate even when the bearingplates are separated. This latter feature is highly important because itfacilitates assembling of the parts of the center bearing and preventsthe rollers from being scattered when the bearing plates are separated.It, also, is important to note that the rollers are capable of travelingmovements notonly in respect to the upper and lower bearing plates, butalso in respect to the thrust ring.

What I claim is 1. In a roller bearing, cooperating bearing plates,interposed radially disposed conical rollers and a thrust ring againstwhich the outer ends of said rollers engage, said thrust ring beingseparable fromone of said bearing plates but connected to the other withfreedom for rotary movementsand being removable therewith.

2. In a roller bearing, cooperating hearing plates, interposed radiallydisposed coni- 3. In a roller bearing, cooperating bearing plates,interposed conical rollers, a thrust ring against which the outer endsof said rollers engage, and means connecting said thrust ring to one ofsaid bearing plates with freedom for movements in a plane at a rightangle to the axis of the bearings, said thrust ring having a retainingflange lapping the outer ends of said rollers.

4. In a roller bearing, cooperating bearing plates, interposed conicalrollers, a thrust ring against which the outer ends of said rollersengage, means connecting said thrust ring to one of said bearing plateswith freedom for movements in a plane at a right angle to the axis ofthe bearings, said thrust ring having a retaining flange lapping theouter ends of said rollers, and the bearing plate to whichv said thrustring is loosely connected having a hub with an annular retaining flangelapping the inner ends of said rollers.

5. A roller bearin cooperating bearing plates interposed conicalrollers, a thrust ring against which the outer ends of said rollersengage, means connecting said thrust ring to one of said bearing plateswith freedom for rotary movements, said thrust ring having a retainingflange lapping the outer ends of said rollers, and the bearing plate towhich said thrust ring is connected for rotation having a hub providedwith an annular retaining flange lapping the inner ends of said rollers.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN C. BARBER.

Witnesses LEE IV. BARBER, C. F. PHILLIPS.

"Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

